(Long Island, N.Y.) This year marks the 21st anniversary of the Hamptons International Film Festival.
The Hamptons International Film Festival was established to celebrate documentaries, fiction, independent, long and short films and to introduce a unique and varied spectrum of international films and filmmakers to a varied audience. The festival is committed to exhibiting films that express fresh voices and differing global perspectives, with the hope that these programs will enlighten audiences, provide invaluable exposure for filmmakers and present inspired entertainment for all.
Below are my choices for the best films:
Director John Krokidas premiered his film “Kill Your Darling” on opening night at the Guild Theater in East Hampton.
The synopsis involves the meeting of Allen Ginsberg, Lucien Carr, Jack Kerouac, and William Burroughs during Ginsberg’s early days at Columbia University. The group creates a bond looking for a “new vision”––daring each other to innovate and redefine their voices. Eventually they splinter apart when one of them becomes involved in a murder in 1944. The stars of the film Daniel Radcliffe and Dane DeHaan lead an exceptional cast that also features Michael C. Hall, Elizabeth Olsen, David Cross, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Jack Huston as Kerouac and an almost unrecognizable Ben Foster as Burroughs.
John Krokidas received his B.A. in Theater and American Studies from Yale University, where he studied acting before attending New York University’s Graduate Film Program. He wrote and directed two short films at NYU. His first, SHAME NO MORE played at over seventy film festivals around the world and sold to ten countries airing on such channels as Arte and Canal Plus before becoming part of the short-film collection QUEER AS F**K and airing on IFC and PBS in the United States. His second short film, SLO-MO premiered at the Telluride Film Festival and went on to play Sundance before airing on HBO, PBS and the Sundance Channel. Krokidas wrote and directed a PSA starring Jack Nicholson (JACK AND HILL) for the 2008 Presidential Election that was chosen by CNN as one of their “Best Political Ads of the Year.” And in 2011, Krokidas was chosen by “The Advocate” magazine as one of their Top 40 Under 40. KILL YOUR DARLINGS marks Krokidas’ feature directorial debut. He was recently named one of Variety’s Top Ten Directors to watch for 2013.
Actor/Director and Filmmaker Ralph Macchio best known for his role in “Karate Kid” premiered his latest short movie “Across Grace Alley” at the 21st Hamptons International Film Festival.
The synopsis of the film involves a young boy struggling with his parents going through a difficult divorce. He seeks solace in his infatuation with a captivating woman he discovers through a neighboring window.
Ralph Macchio’s debut short-film, “Love Thy Brother” premiered at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival to audience and critical acclaim, distributed to HBO, iTunes and Shorts International. An Executive Producer of “American Gypsies” for National Geographic Channel, Macchio has developed projects for Fox, ABC Family, Nickelodeon and MTV. His FunnyOrDie.com video “Wax-On, F*ck-Off” remains one of the sites most popular of all time. Having worked with a variety of iconic filmmakers, Macchio strives to implement what he has absorbed into his own filmmaking endeavors. Film acting credits include highlights – “The Outsiders,” “The Karate Kid,” “My Cousin Vinny,” “Crossroads” and “Hitchcock.”
For more information about the film please visit www.facebook.com/AcrossGraceAlley.
International Emmy Award Winning Actress Helen Bonham Carter premiered her latest flick “Burton And Taylor” at this year’s 21st Hampton’s International Film Festival.
BAFTA award-winning actors Dominic West and Helena Bonham Carter star as Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor – Hollywood’s most volatile couple who famously played out for the world to see every high and low of their love affairs, multiple marriages and divorces in the public eye. Burton and Taylor made their last stage appearance together in the critically reviled 1983 revival of Noel Coward’s stage play, “Private Lives.” The flick portrays their ill-fated reunion, on and off stage. The film was directed by Richard Laxton.
Renowned Actress Helen Bonham Carter delivers Taylor’s bigger than life persona; what she also does is dig deep to offer a fully realized portrait of a heartbroken woman at a vulnerable point in her life as she reveals in our interview at the Bay Street Theater.
The film can also be seen Wednesday evening on BBC America Network. The evening will be a double feature showing Cleopatra starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton and then of course Burton and Taylor starring Helena Bonham Carter and Dominic West.
Helena made her acting debut in a television adaptation of K. M. Peyton’s A Pattern of Roses before winning her first film role as the titular character in Lady Jane. She is known for her roles in films such as A Room with a View, Fight Club, The King’s Speech, and playing the villainess Bellatrix Lestrange in the Harry Potter series, as well as for frequently collaborating with her husband, Director Tim Burton, in films such as Planet of the Apes, Big Fish, Corpse Bride, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Alice in Wonderland, and Dark Shadows. In 2012, she played Miss Havisham in Great Expectations, and Madame Thénardier in Les Misérables.
For more information about this talented actress please visit www.imdb.com/name/nm0000307/.
The Hamptons International Film Festival headquarters were located at the beautiful c/o The Maidstone Hotel on Main Street in East Hampton.
The Hamptons International Film Festival appreciates the support from their corporate sponsors including American Airlines/Altour International, Capital One, The Wall Street Journal, Silvercup Studios and A&E Indie Films.
For more information please visit www.hamptonsfilmfest.org.
